Casting Couch: Jason Clarke Could be a Traitor in ‘Child 44,’ Barry Pepper on Board ‘Kill the Messenger,’ and More

What is Casting Couch? It’s diligently gathering together all the last bits of casting news that are hitting before Comic Con starts up later this week and takes over everyone’s attention with its water cooler-worthy sneak peaks and complaint-inducing lines. Read on for news regarding Juno Temple, an English-language voice cast for a Spanish movie, and Paul F’n Reiser.

It’s hard to say which has been more on fire lately, Jason Clarke’s career or Child 44’s casting process. Probably that’s a debate we don’t need to have though, because the two have just converged and are now fighting for the same side. Heat Vision is reporting that Clarke is negotiating to join director Daniel Espinosa’s tale of Soviet-era child murders and coverups, in the role of a shady character named Brodsky who just may be a traitor. If Clarke’s involvement becomes official, he’ll join his Lawless co-stars Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman, as well as the already cast Noomi Rapace, Joel Kinnaman, Paddy Considine, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, which is just ridiculously impressive.

Barry Pepper

Entertainment pundits have been predicting that Barry Pepper would break through and become a household name ever since like the late 90s now, without it ever really happening. He’s been getting pretty constant work and has been turning in really strong performances ever since then though, so it may not be necessary to feel bad for a guy who’s sneakily built a really great career. Already this year he’s appeared in Broken City, Snitch, and The Lone Ranger, and now Deadline is reporting that he’s joined the cast of the upcoming Gary Webb biopic-thriller Kill the Messenger, which stars Jeremy Renner. He’ll be playing a federal prosecutor named Russell Dodson, who attempted to keep Webb from publishing a series of articles that uncovered corrupt CIA practices in Nicaragua.

Juno Temple

The Daily Mail is reporting that ethereal beauty Juno Temple is close to lending her otherworldly presence to another film. Apparently she’s currently in negotiations to join Thomas Vinterberg’s (The Hunt) upcoming Carrey Mulligan-starring adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s “Far From the Madding Crowd.” According to the report, these negotiations follow her screen-testing for the role of Fanny Robin, who’s a downtrodden servant girl who’s kind of a Christ figure and a clear personification of the persecution that women go through while living in a male-dominated society, and is also exactly the sort of character who you would screen-test Juno Temple for.

Martin Sheen

Gkids, the same distribution company that has recently brought versions of The Secret Life of Kells, A Cat in Paris, and Chico & Rita to English-speaking audiences, has found their next import, an animated movie from Spain called Wrinklesthat’s about a smooth-talker named Miguel who strikes up a friendship with a retired bank manager named Emilio while they’re living in a retirement community together, and who then tries to con Emilio’s way out of getting sent to the solitary confinement floor of the building after he starts to suffer from Alzheimer’s. In order to bring these characters to life for a new audience, Variety is reporting that Martin Sheen, Matthew Modine, and Archer’s George Coe have been recruited to comprise the core of the English-speaking voice cast.

Sharlto Copley

Sharlto Copley, who first caught the world’s attention in Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 and is about to appear in his followup, Elysium, is looking to shed his recent image of being an actor who only plays villains (he’s also playing a jerk in Spike Lee’s Oldboy remake) in order to slip into the hero role for a new film called Hardcore. From writer/director Ilya Naishuller, Hardcore is set to be a POV action film, similar to the well-received video she made for her band Biting Elbows’ song ‘Bad Motherfucker,’ in which Copley’s character will kill a bunch of people on his way toward rescuing some sort of distressed damsel. Wouldn’t it be a strange role reversal if this one eventually got a video game adaptation? [The Wrap]

Andrea Estella

There’s some bad news for the Veronica Marsmovie. It turns out Leighton Meester isn’t going to be able to reprise her role of Neptune High’s resident queen of gossip, Carrie Bishop, after all. She has scheduling complications and whatnot. Director Rob Thomas isn’t panicking though, because he’s already got someone else lined up to step in. It turns out this is a role that’s going to require a bit of singing, so he’s getting the lead singer of Twin Sister, Andrea Estella, to come on board and do the job. In an email update to Kickstarter supporters [via THR], Thomas mentioned that he’s a big Twin Sister fan, had been listening to one of their songs extensively while writing the Veronica Mars script, and was probably going to fit them into the movie in some way already anyway.

Paul Reiser

Finally, let’s end things with some Paul Reiser news, because how often do you get to hear any Paul Reiser news these days? Heat Vision is reporting that the Mad About You and Aliens star has just joined Dane DeHaan, Aubrey Plaza, and John C Reilly in the cast of an upcoming horror comedy called Life After Beth. From writer/director Jeff Baena, who’s best known for writing David O Russell’s existential dramedy I Heart Huckabees, Life After Beth will see DeHaan’s character struggling with the complications that come from maintaining a relationship after your girlfriend (Plaza) has died and been resurrected. Reilly will be playing the Plaza character’s father, while Reiser will be playing the DeHaan character’s father, respectively.

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